Useless Trivia

[John Szczepanski <johnski@iol.ie>]

Back to sumo matters, I'd like to introduce some Totally Useless Statistics
of Limited Scholarship, derived from the pairings of the March tournament.
I really appreciated the efforts of those who kept us posted day-to-day,
especially for the information regarding career W-L records, on which the
following is based.  As the W-L records for pairs wasn't available on the
first day, the sample pool is limited to Days 2-15, which should still
represent a fair number of matches.  I offer this without comment, and you
can make of it what you want - or ignore it completely (like my wife).

Here goes:


        Total number of Makunouchi matches, Days 2-15:               278

        Fusensho matches (Waka', Terao, Kotonowaka):                   3
                                                                     ---
        Remaining Subtotal:                                          275


Of subtotal, hatsugao first-time matches:                             65  (24%)
  -  of which 35 (54%) won by rikishi with higher banzuke rank

Of subtotal, matches between rikishi who had met just once before:    36  (13%)
  -  of which 20 (56%) won by rikishi won won in the first meeting

Of subtotal, matches between rikishi who met 2+ times previously:    174  (63%)
  -  of which 96 (55%) who by winner of the previous meeting

Of subtotal, matches between rikishi who had met at least twice
previously and who had no tie W-L record:                            143  (52%)
  -  of which 85 (59%) won by rikishi with the higher career W-L
     record against his opponent

Of above subtotal, matches featuring rikishi who had met ten or
more times previously (not counting tie W-L records):                 55  (20%)
  -  of which 35 (64%) won by rikishi with higher career
     W-L record against his opponent

Probability of win for rikishi with higher career W-L record against
his opponent AND a win in their last meeting:                         60%
(67/112)



I think that's about enough...


Kielbasa and Guinness - a match made in heaven,

John "Perogishiki" Szczepanski
County Leitrim, Ireland